Tidal Bore and Carved Trees

---

3 August, 2013

We were up early this morning. I put together a lasagne in the crockpot and off we went to the town of Truro to see the Tidal Bore in the Salmon River.

A tidal bore is, to the best of my understanding, when the incoming tide meets the water flowing down a river, it will create a wave, like a curl, and travel up the river until it overcomes the force of the downflowing water. This tidal bore can vary from a ripple to several feet, and the size is affected by lunar phases, tidal variations, and I guess by how much water is coming down the river. According to the printed schedule (and they do print out estimated time of tidal bore) today it was supposed to show up at 11:05 am. We got to the place alongside the river where the bore-watching is best about 10:30 and found a good spot to sit and wait. We took some pictures of the river pre-tidal bore to compare to pictures of post-tidal bore. Luckily for us, there was some big iron something-or-other in the river in front of us to use to gauge the water depth. About (or aboot as they say here) 10:45 here came a wave maybe a foot high. I guess no one gave the tidal bore the schedule for today. It was really pretty neat to watch it curl over the sand bar in the river and fill the river in a short period of time. We read that it only takes an hour to do that. We waited around just in case this was a wannabe tidal bore, but no other one came, so I guess this was the real thing.

We then drove into the town of Truro where we went first to the farmers market. It was a small market, but the vegetables were beautiful. We went to a souvenir shop in search of patches before going to eat a lunch of fish and chips.

In Truro they lost a lot of old elm trees to dutch elm disease, but instead of just cutting them down, they decided to have some of them carved into statues. The first one we saw was a Mountie, you know, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and, believe it or not, it was in front of the RCMP office. I understand there are around 20 of these statues. We only saw 5 or 6, but the streets are narrow and parking is not always handy around them.

So we came back to Parrsboro, stopping by the pier to check the tide level. We’d missed the high tide, so the lobster boats were again sitting on the bottom, but there was a little water under their keels. The lighthouse has been singing to us all afternoon.



By the way, the lasagna was pretty good.

---

Photos

Just rode in
Truro, NS. I don't know who the guy with the stick is.

Salmon River
Tidal Bore coming

Tidal Bore
Salmon River

Tidal Bore
It looked pretty cool crossing the sand bar in the river

Salmon River
before tidal bore and incoming tide

Salmon River
about half an hour later. It filled up fast.

Salmon River
before tidal bore

Same spot
30 minutes later

Carved Mountie
in Truro, NS, in front of RCMP office

Hockey playing bear
Truro, NS

Lumberjack
I love his mustache and knit cap

In front of the Library
Don't know if he is a specific person

Man playing church organ
He was obviously made from more than one tree

Organ player
from the front

Lobster boats at Parrsboro
still sitting on the bottom in maybe a foot of water

Comments

[Linda Smith]

I love what they did with the tree statues. Did you get any lobster?

[barbara]

Never even heard of a tidal bore. AND I am going to try crockpot lasagna~~~~~